Manners of living.

Remonstrances.

all other articles in ports distant from the mother country. The colonists were allowed the exclusive privilege of raising 1661 tobacco, its cultivation being prohibited in England and Ireland.

Restrictions were afterwards laid on trade between the different colonies, and finally the manufacture of any articles was prohibited, which might compete with the English in foreign markets.

This system of commercial monopoly was continued for more than a century, and was considered of great advantage to England; but was regarded by the colonists as unjust and injurious, and a disposition was evinced to evade it, as far as possible. Yet no distrust of the royal power was excited; freedom of trade was the object of their wishes; and confidence was still felt in the favor of the king. The assembly remonstrated against these oppressions, and petitioned for relief; but Charles enforced the acts of parliament, by erecting forts on the banks of the principal rivers, and sending vessels to cruise on the coast. In addition to grievances occasioned by restrictions on their commerce, Charles made grants of land, in violation of those previously made.

In those days the people lived in great simplicity. They were brought up in the freedom of the wilderness, and dwelt in cottages scattered along the rivers. No printing press was allowed, consequently they had no newspapers, and but few books. Education was much neglected. Travelling was performed by water, or on horseback through paths in the forest. There were no bridges, and rivers had to be crossed either by fording or swimming. The houses were often built of logs, with shutters to close the windows, instead of glass. A collection of several houses was rarely to be seen; and Jamestown had but a State house, a house for public worship,

1675

Popular discontent.

War with the Indians.

and eighteen dwellings. The people were widely scattered, and rarely met in large numbers.

Among such a people, the pressure of increasing grievances began to excite open discontent. Some outbreaks appeared, which, however, were quickly suppressed by the decision of the governor. Yet the people were not satisfied. A deputation had been sent to England to endeavor to obtain some redress, and after a year's negotiation, intelligence was received that it had been unsuccessful.

While matters were in this state, the colonists became engaged in a war with the Susquehannah Indians Serious apprehensions had been excited in the minds of these, by the encroachments of the English, who at first had occupied only the borders of the bay. By degrees they had crossed the mountains and explored the interior. The Indians were not disposed to relinquish their right to the homes of their fathers, and resisted these aggressions by killing some of the whites, who had come in their way. These outrages had been avenged by militia stationed on the borders, and when six of the chieftains came as messengers to treat for peace, they were treacherously murdered. This again excited the passions of the Indians, who were not satisfied until ten English had been killed for each of their chiefs. Proposals of peace were then renewed by the Susquehannahs and their confederates, but were rejected.

In 1676, a rebellion against the English government broke out. The governor was accused of unfaithfulness to the interests of the colony, in not resisting the oppressions of the 1676 mother country, and of a want of courage to repel the hostility of the savages; and, notwithstanding his former popularity, he was unable to maintain tranquillity, and for some months a civil war raged in Virginia.

Bacon's insurrection.

Order restored.

Having fled to a remote portion of the colony, Berkeley 1676 collected some forces, and entered the settlement. Several sharp conflicts ensued with various success. Jamestown was burned, and either party, as it suited their purpose, laid waste cultivated districts of country. Berkeley applied for assistance to the king. Charles despatched a squadron, with some regular troops, but they did not arrive until order had been restored. The death of Nathaniel Bacon, the leader of the insurgents, occasioned the dissolution of the party. Without any choice of a new leader, they laid down their arms, and submitted to the government of Berkeley, on condition of receiving a general pardon.

Reinstated in office, the governor called together the representatives of the people. The proceedings of the assembly were marked with moderation. The promise of general pardon was confirmed, with few exceptions. None were executed, a few were fined, and some others were prohibited from holding any office of trust.

The results of Bacon's rebellion were disastrous to Virginia. Many lives were lost, and much property was sacrificed; while it did not induce England to relax her restrictions upon the commerce of the colony, and furnished an excuse for refusing a liberal charter.

Soon after the rebellion, Berkeley returned to England, and the authority devolved on Jeffrys, the lieutenant governor. Under his administration, peace was concluded with the Indians, and notwithstanding the unfavorable circumstances to which the colony was subjected, wealth and population increased. In 1688, at the time of the revolution in the British government, which placed William and Mary on the throne of England, the number of inhabitants amounted to 60,000.

1688

College of William and Mary founded.

Dissenters increase.

Under the patronage of the new sovereigns, the college of William and Mary was founded at Williamsburgh, the second institution of the kind established in the country,-Harvard University at Boston being the first. Episcopacy continued to be the established religion, and each priest was by law assigned a salary of sixteen thousand pounds of tobacco. Yet dissenters were increasing so rapidly, that before the independence of the colonies, they amounted to two-thirds of the whole population. The laws against them, though unrepealed, had ceased to be enforced.

CHAPTER VI.

COLONIZATION OF MARYLAND.

William Clayborne.

Lord Baltimore.

THE limits of Virginia included not only all the soil which subsequently belonged to Maryland, but extended as far north as the Dutch plantations on the Hudson. The country 1621 toward the head of the Chesapeake, had been explored, and a trade with the Indians commenced, as early as 1621. An attempt was made to monopolize this trade, by William Clayborne, who afterwards exerted an injurious influence in the new colony. He had come out from England as a surveyor, sent by the London Company to make a map of the country, and had held important offices in Virginia, till 1629, when he was employed to survey the Chesapeake Bay. The information obtained by him, in the prosecution of this undertaking, was the means of forming in England a company for trading with the natives. Clayborne obtained in 1631 a royal license, sanctioning the commerce, and trading establishments were formed on Kent Island in the Chesapeake, as far north as the present site of Annapolis, and also near the mouth of the Susquehannah; thus extending the limits of Virginia towards the boundary of New England.

But a new government was about to be established on the borders of the old colony, under the patronage of the Calvert family. Sir George Calvert, afterwards Lord Baltimore, had obtained a special patent for the southern promontory of Newfoundland. He was careful in the selection of emigrants,

1631